My Soul - Mi Alma (Ongoing)

20The Reception

Friday was a hectic day at the office, everything had to be perfect for the reception. The presentation was double-checked, as were the information sheets and press releases.

"Does anyone know what press is coming?" Francis asked, and continued "I spoke to the NY Times before I left home, they would send a stringer, but they also wanted an interview with Alma and me when she is back in New York."

Juan, the communications officer at the Prado came with a list of what media had accepted the invitation. I skimmed through it, and it was pretty impressive. CNN, New York Times, Several international art magazines were on the list, as well as the major Spanish TV-stations and, of course, El Pais, the most influential Spanish newspaper.

We all went over our parts in this spectacle, with Francis and Carlos in the lead. I felt we had control.

Back at the hotel, it was time to get ready, after a shower I started to dress, when I heard a knock on my door, I opened and looked into Carlos wide white grin.

"Mi Alma, I can't go through this without a proper kiss" He hurried in and closed the door.

We hadn't been in each other's arms for the last 24 hours, and we both needed to refuel our passion.

"Alma, I want to stay the night in your room." He whispered, "I even brought extra clothes for the meeting tomorrow." Tomorrow we had a breakfast meeting with Francis, Claudia, and the communications officer from the museum to evaluate the presentation.

"So my male chauvinist Latin lover had this all planned," I smirked, and he sent me an innocent glance. "A man must hope," he said and placed a tender kiss on my lips.

"I want you to stay too, Carlos, but we have to be extremely discreet. I'll get you an extra keycard to my room – so you can sneak in and out unseen" I threw myself in his arms, and he had no plans of letting me go.

"Carlos, I need to finish dressing and putting some makeup on. Is it ok that I keep my hair down, or should I put I in a bun? It's less than an hour till the reception starts, and I think we have to be there a bit early" I struggled my way out of his arms, went over to the closet and took my beautiful green dress out. Carlos sends me a longing glance as I stepped into it and immediately volunteered to zip me up.

I finished in 30 minutes; I'm not one for extensive makeup or fancy hairdos, so with light natural makeup and my hair in a bun, we were ready to meet the world press.

When we arrived at the banquet room, the place was already half full, and voices summing everywhere. The American ambassador and his wife stood by the large double doors and greeted their guests, I saw Francis and Brett already there, mingling and talking with the CNN reporter. I looked around for Claudia. She came together with the communications officer from the museum. She waved and joined Carlos and me as we made our way over to Francis and Brett.

I looked at the group of people there, as expected, middle-aged women dressed to the nines and all men in dark suits. Hope we didn't have to stay for too long. This kind of event has an evil tendency to drag out.

The ambassador took the podium and welcomed everyone before introducing the Spanish minister of culture, who started talking about the importance of international cultural cooperation – and how "Goyas women" was a significant step forward for the cultural collaboration between our two countries.

And then – our group took the podium, I was so nervous, but it had all been rehearsed several times. The presentation went really well, and there were lots of questions from the press, and a few interviews with Carlos and Francis.

"Alma!" I was crushed into a bearhug. I had to look at the person. "Martha," I returned the hug. Martha was one of my closest friends from University, we fell slightly out of touch during our masters, as I did mine in art history and preservation, and she did hers in culture administration. I don't think I had seen her for four years.

"Martha, what are you doing here?" I hugged her again – it was lovely to see someone I knew, in the masses of unfamiliar faces.

"I work as an education and culture officer at the embassy," she explained, "I had no idea that you were involved in the Goya project – how long have you been here for?"

She was babbling happily and had a million questions. I told her I had been in Madrid for two weeks as the curator from the Met on the exhibition project, and that I would stay one more week.

She had lived in Madrid for three years now and loved it. "Alma, we have to get together for dinner or drinks before you leave," she smiled. We exchanged phone numbers and promised to keep in touch.

Carlos came over, and I introduced them, "You were teaching at NYU when we took out masters, weren't you? – I regretted for at least one semester that I never took any of your classes, we all thought you were so hot" Martha smiled. "Maybe I will see you again, as I will be handling whatever needs to be handled from the embassy."

"Ohh, then we will most certainly meet again" Carlos sent her his flashing white smile, and I saw she eyed him – oh well, guess that's the curse of having an absolutely gorgeous boyfriend.

"Alma, I need to introduce you to the minister of culture" Carlos took my arm and walked me over to a middle-aged woman.

"Signora Lopez – may I introduce Alma Bech Sachs?"

I took the lady's hand, and she hung on to the handshake. "Bech" – she said, "are you related to Susannah Bech, and Antonio Bech?"

I confirmed they were indeed my mama and my abuelo.

"Alma, your mama was my best friend when we were kids in Barcelona. I have never forgotten the Bech family, they were fantastic. I was so sad when they left. I was too young to understand politics back then, but I understand they suffered a lot of hardship. So tell me, how is your mama?"

I told her about mama's artist career and her life in New York. I got  Antonia Lopez's business card, and she scribbled her private mail and cell number on the back and made me promise to give it to my mum when I got home.

An elderly man had stood still next to Antonia Lopez, he stared at me, and said quietly, "I worked as a journalist for your grandfather. He was a wonderful and brave editor. I can thank him for my journalistic skills" Then he sends me an apologetic smile "I'm so sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Francisco Lopez, the culture editor of "El Pais."

I continued chatting with the Lopez couple, and they told me so many beautiful stories about their memories of my family.

"I should get one of my journalists to make a portrait interview with you, Alma. That the granddaughter of Antonio Bech is now curating one of the biggest cultural exchanges between Spain and the US is interesting news – you know, for many, your grandfather is still a hero".

I felt totally blown off my feet – "sure," I said, "but I'm only here for one more week, and I really don't know very much about my family's life before they came to the US."

Francisco Lopez smiled at me and said – "but I do. Maybe I should make the interview myself." 

People started leaving, Francis, Brett, Carlos, Claudia, and I decide to go to the roof terrace of the hotel for a nightcap.

We were all really excited about the positive reactions the exhibition got, and that all interviews went well. The communications officer had left but would do a media screening before our brunch meeting in the morning.

"You know," I said, "Fransico Lopez wants to make a portrait interview with me. He thinks its big news that Antonio Bechs granddaughter is curating this exhibition, but I'm not sure. I don't know if it's right for the exhibition project that I'm the one who gets the focus".

Carlos's jaw dropped. "Of course I should have thought of that myself, and it's a huge honor to be interviewed by Lopez – so Alma, I demand that you accept that – as your boss here I give you that as an order you must obey."

Francis agreed with Carlos, as did everyone else around the table, so I guess I would have to do it. I was nervous.

When Carlos and I returned to my room, I asked him – "Why did you introduce me as Bech Sachs? I normally just use Sachs".

Carlos just smiled and said "Because I know a lot of the people present today see your grandfather as a hero – and I wanted you to experience that"

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